Op-Ed
Thoughts on “L.A. Day” – “Losing Afghanistan Day” in America
On the last day of our last war. The last soldier was out. And we leave with a lousy tweet.
There are times when being a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) really matters. And then there are times when we are just plain Americans.
This is one of those times. When our country loses a war, we become “we.”
We weren’t going to get a countdown. Or a ball drop.
Surely, there would be no crowds cheering at Time Square to mark this loss in history.
This week at the Pentagon media briefing, someone asked whether the Aug. 31 deadline to leave Afghanistan was Eastern Time in D.C. or Kabul Time? She might as well have added California, Tijuana, or Hawaii time too. It’s a pertinent question for journalists everywhere who need certainty.
Darnit, I’ve got a deadline! Whose Time Zone are we losing in?
Of course, would the Taliban understand Biden or Blinken if upon exiting they declared, “It’s still Aug. 31st … in American Samoa”?
There was no specific answer given. Just a hem and a haw about the need for less transparency at this strategic moment. But by 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug 30, we knew it was over. That’s when the clock struck midnight Kabul Time, and Aug. 31 had arrived. That was it. The last plane out of Kabul.
In this day and age, we capture the moment in social media. This one from the 18th Airborne.
On the last day of our last war. The last soldier was out. And we leave with a lousy tweet.
https://twitter.com/18airornecorps/status/1432487566675259393?s=20
So, what do we call this day, August 31 in the U.S.? The San Francisco Bay Area chauvinist in me wants to call it “LA Day.”
That could be for “Leaving Afghanistan.” Or “Losing Afghanistan” Day.
LA Day doesn’t hurt so bad. It sounds like we might get a side-trip to Disneyland.
Maybe Fantasyland.
But the nightscope shows no fantasy. It clearly captures Major General Chris Donahue, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, walking away and leaving Afghanistan. The country we lost. Where we also lost American lives, more than 2,400, the last 13 just a week ago. Add to that 20,000 wounded service members. And all of it funded by an estimated two trillion dollars the U.S. “invested” in the effort, that now benefits…. the Taliban?
They are in charge, we think. But no one really knows.
All the U.S. ever wanted to do was something that wasn’t quite “colonial” or “paternal.” Was it “puppet-master”?
The goal was to defeat the Taliban and install a democratic government–which happened. But it didn’t hold. Soon after the U.S. announced its withdrawal, President Ghani got out of Kabul before we did.
What were they going to do now?
That’s the answer in both the micro sense, and the macro sense. In Afghanistan—the land of forever war—No one really knows what’s next.
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He vlogs at www.amok.com and on Facebook @emilguillermo.media.
